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During a visit to Port Sebastian for marital necessities, a roguish actor unsuccessfully tries to woo her, but discovers her passion for the Black Macoco (“Mac the Black”) during a hypnosis act gone awry; in turn, he and his troupe stalk her back home for an extended soap opera of mistaken identities and hidden agendas. If the balance of the movie didn’t rely so wholeheartedly on the trick revelation, or if half an attempt were made to have any substance before or after the veil is dropped, there might have been a little more fun to this grating and incessant minor musical. The song-and-dance interludes luckily tend to be spread far apart, but especially the dance sequences wind on and on, which quickly detracts from the dexterity of any choreography. Despite the sexism of Gene Kelly’s first number (relegating all of the women to niñas), the camerawork magnificently traverses around the town’s square, up, down, and around, all without the desire to intrusively become a dancing partner. However, from there, each number flattens more and more, the same of which could be said for Judy Garland’s standout first song, without subsequent measure to follow. Harry Stradling’s palette is too buttery, the adaptation by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett is poorly scripted and staged (with the unforgivably, annoyingly written character of Serafin), the miscast Kelly and Garland (the latter playing a character named Manuela — ha!), and a bland, stifling direction by Vincente Minnelli. With Walter Slezak.

[Not to be bothered with.]

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link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=8433&reviewer=172
originally posted: 12/24/03 11:58:46
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